83 minutes
PG Parental Guidance Suggested.
for some mild language and innuendo
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The film is a celebration of the Warner Bros. well known roster of cartoon characters. It moves at such a fast pace that small children are bound to miss some of the subtleties, which may not be unintentional. Director Joe Dante (Gremlins) has loaded his film with both human and animated cameos that are both fast-paced and funny. The story's about D.J. Drake (Brendan Fraser) who wants to be a stuntman at Warner Brothers, where his father (Timothy Dalton) is a big star. Studio executive Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman) gets the plot moving when she recommends firing the duck that plays Daffy Duck who's Bugs Bunny's longtime rival. So, to save his job, Daffy appoints himself D.J.'s sidekick and they head off for Las Vegas after D.J.'s kidnapped father, when they learn that his dad may be a secret agent. Soon, Kate and Bugs head out after them, in pursuit. In Vegas, D.J. finds himself in the middle of a good old-fashioned barroom brawl, featuring Yosemite Sam, and a car chase. That's where they also meet up with Dusty Tails (Heather Locklear), a sexy casino entertainer. The Chairman (Steve Martin), head of the Acme Corporation and his council of yes-men keep a running surveillance of both D.J.'s progress and his own henchmen's torturing of D.J.'s dad. The action takes our heroes into a wacky sci-fi lab, headed by a kooky scientist (Joan Cusack), to the Louvre in Paris, to a jungle tomb, and even into the far reaches of the solar system. Mixing the animation with the live actors is done seamlessly. Martin is great fun as the dastardly villian, and Fraser is very appealing as the hero. This very cute family film does have some wonderful film references that have been thrown in to keep the adults amused. The best of these is a black-and-white sequence in which Bugs and Kate reenact the shower scene from "Psycho." But don't worry. It's funny, not at all scary.
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